It all started with taking the last lift up the mountain in the evening.

My first ski tour adventure was on. We skied down the backside of the mountain to the hut where we would spend the night, and all of a sudden we were in the middle of nowhere. Bluebird, sunshine and amazing people, can it get any better??  Amongst snow covered peaks I was with my friend Ulrika and soon three Frenchmen would join us in the hideaway mountain hut. The evening was spent with great food and company, and enough wood in the stove to keep us warm for the night. That is in the living room downstairs where we had dinner. In the sleeping loft upstairs it was freezing!!

The next morning we set off after breakfast and made our way down to the beginning of the tour. Time to put the skins on and start making our way up to the top. I had no idea how long the tour would take but I trusted the others that it probably wouldn’t be too long as this was my first ski tour. 40 minutes in I was dead! That’s exactly the words I used when I reached the top 3 hours later. Amazing, wasn’t it… or what did I really think? I had no energy left and now it was time to take the skins off and ski down. Once we were down they looked up at our lines we made down the mountain: “Well worth the tour!” All I keep thinking was: “What’s wrong with them?!” We finished our way back to Tignes with another 2 hour tour.

I survived, I thought as I lay in the bathtub back at the house. It’s now been about two weeks since my first ski tour and I must admit it was a fantastic experience. I would love to do it again but obviously I’ll prepare differently next time and make sure I have enough food with me to last. Food is really important to me and I need to refuel often. One more thing, I always though the French were connoisseur that don’t like to make too much of an effort. But they have proved me wrong after surviving a whole day of endurance exercise on only a baguette and sugar coated cereal for breakfast!

Many thanks to Ulrika Celsing and the French guys!

Enjoy life!

/Isabel